A degree course director in textile design, her bizarre hobby started while on a trip to Australia five years ago.

Ms Little said: âI was on a trip to Melbourne when I spotted some artificial grass in a bargain store and I found it intriguing â the way it was engineered, how it was put together.

âThere was a drought at the time in Australia and, there I was, picking up artificial grass which had been made in China, to take back to Britain where there was plenty of grass.â

The mother of three adult children has 35 squares of grass from around the world and pays up to £6 a square.

She hopes to soon have enough squares to turf a wall in her home in Harborne, Birmingham.

âIt would lend itself perfectly to a vertical indoor garden because thereâs so much scope,â Ms Little added.

âYou could layer on different colours and textures, and hang or tie on additions.â Her collection has become a travel log of all the places she has visited on her trips around the world.

Once she became aware of artificial grass, she started to see it in all sorts of places, including some in an aquarium that was designed for crocodiles.She said: âItâs the hunt that I love. One of the first things I do when I get somewhere is go looking for artificial grass.

âEven though itâs almost all made in China, you do find out a lot about a city by doing this. My hunt takes me to the cheaper suburbs, the little streets. I take pictures of shops where I find it, laminate them and add them to the grass as part of my collection.â

Ms Little admits visitors to her home are perplexed when she tells them about her love of artificial grass.

âBut once they see my collection, they usually get pretty intrigued themselves. It grows on them,â she added.